Postgraduate classes admissions percentage
Admissions in postgraduate classes increased to 15 percent
Lahore, Dec 03: The percentage of admission in postgraduate classes
in Pakistan has increased to 15 per cent of the entire admissions in higher
education meaning thereby four per cent of the total population is seeking
university education in Pakistan, which is double than the previous 2 per cent
in the year 2002 achieved after billions of rupees spending on higher education.
It is, however grossly lower than 12 per cent in India and 85 per cent in Korea.
According to a study conducted by the Education Executive Club (EEC), the
strength of students in undergraduate level is 13.5 per cent of the total
population and if 7 per cent are added by the year 2010, the strength comes to
17 lakh youth. The more alarming is the fact that we don't have the
infrastructure to engage our graduates in nation-building endeavours. The low
percentage of higher education and its application for development speak the
pitiable state of affairs while it is no denying the fact that the higher
education of quality is key to progress of any country and this is true for
Pakistan. According to the study, only 12,000 teachers are working in public
sector universities in Punjab, while 24,000 are needed. The strength of PhD
teachers in postgraduate classes is almost negligible i.e. 3050 of which 1500
are engaged in research. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has fixed target
of 1000 PhDs every year but the cut in its budget would lead the PhD programme
in fiasco. It is also a matter of concern that majority of PhDs are in Science
subjects while the number of PhDs in Social Sciences is comparatively low. There
were 200 PhD scholars in Social Sciences by the end of 2008. As such lot has to
be done to increase the number of PhD scholars in Science, Commerce and Social
Sciences. The nation
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Punjab BISEs employees go complete pen-down strike
Lahore: Employees of the Board of Intermediate & Secondary Education
(BISE) Lahore along with employees of other seven boards of Punjab observed a
complete pen-down strike on Wednesday. The Employees Federation of
Educational Boards Punjab (EFEBP) had given the call for the strike as a protest
against the Punjab Chief Minister's announcement regarding abolition of
examination and registration fees of students of public sector educational
institutions. It is pertinent to mention here that the visitors
especially students faced troubles due to the strike. Earlier, the
employees had been observing strike only for two hours. The EFEBP had reacted
over the decision maintaining that since the educational boards were autonomous
bodies and generated revenue at their own, the decision would have an adverse
financial impact on these. The Federation has been demanding of the
government to release grants to the educational institutions through the
Education Department for paying examination fees, instead of abolishing them. It
has also been demanding that if it was not possible, the government should
provide grants to the boards directly. Meanwhile, the BISE Lahore has announced
schedule for submission of forms for Matriculation Annual Examination 2010
starting from 13 March 2010. The board has set January 9, 2010 as last
date for submission of forms by regular students while for private students, the
last date with single fee is December 12, 2009. The last date with double
fee both for private and regular students is January 23, 2010 while last date
with triple fee is February 13 2010.
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Call to award university status to FJMC
Lahore: The Association of Fatima Jinnah Old Graduates (AFJOG), terming
Fatima Jinnah Medical College's affiliation with the University of Health
Sciences a conspiracy, demanded the provincial government withdraw its decision
and award university status to the college. The AFJOG office-bearers,
during a hurriedly called meeting on Wednesday, have also considered an option
to issue a legal notice to the government for, what they called, a disgrace to
the Pakistan's oldest Muslim female medical college by affiliating it with a
four-year old nascent university after disaffiliating from the 150-year old
Punjab University. "The government should facilitate students of this
institution from 23 countries and honor longstanding demand of its old graduates
all over the world by awarding it a status of a first women's medical
university," they added. They warned the government that the AFJOG would
go to any extent by holding protest not only in Pakistan but also all over the
world for not awarding it a degree-awarding status. They said that the doctors
and students of the FJMC would hold protest demonstrations and stage rallies on
the roads for the fulfillment of their demand. They also urged Chief
Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif to feel the sensitivity of the matter and honor the
wishes of old graduates and present students as well as consider the plight of
the women's population in the country.
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Health budget increased
Lahore: The provincial Minister for Excise & Taxation, Transport and
Education, Mian Mujtaba Shujja ur Rehman, has said the government has increased
the health budget to ensure the provision of modern health facilities to the
poor. He said a huge amount was being spent annually on the provision of
free medicines in DHQ and teaching hospitals in the province. According
to a handout issued here on Wednesday, Mujtaba Shujja ur Rehman, while
addressing the inaugural ceremony of an additional IC unit of neurosurgery at
Lahore General Hospital (LGH), said that under the directions of the Punjab
chief minister, the hospital was being made a model for neurosurgery as it was
the largest hospital of neurosurgery in Asia. He said that medical
facilities were available only to the influential in the past, however, the
present government had ensured the availability of free medicines to the
deserving. He said steps were being taken to improve the hospital
administration. Hospital medical superintendent Dr. Iqbal Kazmi said
latest MRI and CT scan machines had been provided to the hospital besides the
provision of modern X-Ray machines, lab equipment in operation theatres and
wards. He said that free medicines as well as diagnostic facilities like MRI
& CT scan were being provided to indoor and outdoor patients in the
hospital. He said a new four-storeyed building with 450 beds was near
completion and it would be handed over to the hospital by the end of this month. The news
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